Whitworth University News

Last October, Erica Salkin, an assistant professor of communication studies at Whitworth, was chosen from a nationwide pool of applicants to receive the Joseph C. Beckham Dissertation of the Year Award for her dissertation on students’ free speech. Along with this award, Salkin presented her dissertation at the Education Law Association’s annual conference Nov. 9-12.

In the competitive world of literary journals, Whitworth Professor of English Laurie Lamon, ’78, has had 17 poems accepted for publication so far this year. Publishing one’s poetry requires considerable time and research, which makes her recent success all the more impressive.

After more than two decades of service to the university, Dennis Sterner, Whitworth’s founding dean of the School of Education, announced Nov. 26 that he will step down from his position on June 30, 2013. After a brief sabbatical, he will resume his original role at Whitworth as a professor on the School of Education faculty.

After two decades of collecting quotations both comical and profound, Gordon Jackson, a professor of communication studies at Whitworth, has published his sixth anthology of quotations. His book, released last month, is titled Sleep Faster, We Need the Pillows: 500 Logical Lapses, Paradoxes, and Other Mental Delights. This compilation, filled with intellectual witticisms, is intended to be both amusing and thought-provoking.

The School of Global Commerce & Management is pleased to welcome Claudia Dumitrescu as an assistant professor of marketing. Dumitrescu has nearly 10 years of experience in both the academic and business worlds. She graduated from law school in Romania, her home country, obtained her MS from Arizona State University, and will complete a business administration doctoral program at ASU in May 2013.

In honor of International Education Week Nov. 12-16, the Whitworth School of Education, in conjunction with several other departments on campus and Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute, will sponsor a forum, "Global Citizenship: Leading Courageously in a Diverse World," featuring a keynote speech by Associate Professor of Psychology Adrian Teo. The forum will begin at 6 p.m. in Whitworth University’s Robinson Teaching Theatre in Weyerhaeuser Hall. Teo’s lecture will take place at 6:15 p.m. in the same location. The forum also will feature workshops led by local educators and community members. Admission to the forum is free; the event is open to the public. For more information, call (509) 777-3228.

The 2012 Whitworth University Christmas Festival Concert, “Laud to the Nativity,” will take place in Spokane Dec. 1-2, and in Seattle Dec. 8-9. The concerts will feature more than 120 student performers, including members of the Whitworth Choir, the Whitworth Women’s Choir, the Whitworth Men’s Chorus and the Whitworth Chamber Singers, as well as student instrumentalists and narrators. For more information, please call (509) 777-3280.

On the heels of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the controversial Arizonan immigration law, Whitworth Political Science Professor Julia Stronks will present her second Lindaman Chair lecture, "Christian Perspectives on Immigration Reform," on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at Whitworth University. Stronks is a prolific author and thinker who has published numerous articles and books in her disciplines, including the forthcoming So You Want to Be a Christian Lawyer? She will give her lecture at 7 p.m. in Whitworth’s Robinson Teaching Theatre in Weyerhaeuser Hall. Admission is free. For more information, please call (509) 777-4937.

After two days of intense competition, Whitworth’s forensics team brought home 25 awards, including a third-place Sweepstakes Award for the team’s overall performance, from its second tournament of the season, the Coyote Classic, in Caldwell, Idaho. The Whitworthians have earned a total of 53 individual and four team awards so far this season.